Ben Barber: Iran’s new leader does not really lead

Friday

Sep 27, 2013 at 12:01 AM

Excitement about a possible thaw in relations between Iran and America has become a prisoner of the old Washington trap of confusing the message with the messenger.Newly elected Iranian President Hassan...

By Ben Barber

Excitement about a possible thaw in relations between Iran and America has become a prisoner of the old Washington trap of confusing the message with the messenger.

Newly elected Iranian President Hassan Rouhani may be the nicest guy in the nation of 80 million mainly Shiite Muslims. But he may have zero power to influence events as the two countries whirl past each other in a dance of hostility, anger and fear. The real power belongs to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who remains hostile to America, Israel and the Sunni Muslim nations.

I recall a previous nice guy at the presidency of the Islamic Republic of Iran — Mohammad Khatami. He brought a message as sweet as the strong Persian tea people drink every hour of the day in Tehran, Mashed, Tabriz, Shiraz and other cities.

Khatami preached: Let’s respect civilizations and admit that America has some top-quality folks and ideas. But Khatami was a front man shown to the world as the sweet face of Iran’s theocratic state.

I saw the real bottom line one day in Tehran while reporting for an American newspaper. A mob of angry young men in the Majlis — regime thugs — were bused in from the countryside to demonstrate at the gates of the parliament and threaten any legislator who defied the supreme leader.

They surrounded me and carefully checked my press pass — obtained after weeks of phone calls to Iran’s mission to the United Nations — before letting me continue my interviews. And one leader warned me: your pass expires tomorrow. Better get it renewed.

Soon after, the angry young men changed their tune and became friendly. They vied for the chance to rant and rail at enemies of Islam — whether real or perceived. When my pen ran out of ink someone thrust an arm through the mini-mob to offer me a fresh pen.

The threatening mob was sent to the gates of parliament one day after the real power of Iran showed how weak the reformists — people like Rouhani — really are. I was the only Western journalist in the press gallery that day as the Majlis or parliament — mainly clerics wearing turbans and robes — was expected to debate a bill protecting newspapers from closure by the justice ministry.

A popular pastime in Tehran played out every week or so was for the security services to raid liberal newspapers, arrest the editors and shut them down. The goal was to ensure that liberal, critical, secular or pro-western views not reach too many ears.

Instead, the government-run press harped on the usual correct views: America is a nest of spies. Israel and America try to defeat Islam. The Sunni Islamic nations that support America such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt are simply lackeys of the West. Iran, as the largest Shiite country, was the rightful leader of all of Islam in the battle against Jews, Christians, unbelievers, Bahais, pagans, etc.

So I had gone to the press gallery to watch the debate. Instead, the speaker read an agenda that did not mention the press bill. One mullah aligned with Khatami shouted, “Where is the press bill?”

“It has been removed from the agenda,” said the speaker.

“Who said it could be removed?” asked one cleric.

“The supreme leader said the bill is un-Islamic,” said the speaker.

The reformists now understood there would be no bill and no free press. So did millions of ordinary Persians who would love to have free press, democracy and the inevitable downfall of the theocracy ruling since 1979.

And the next president that the theocratic councils of state allowed to be nominated and win an election was a hardline bigot, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was happy to jail liberal thinkers and opposition political leaders.

So President Obama and others hoping for a breakthrough with Iran had better ask themselves — which Iran?

•The Iran of the ancient, decent people who showed me so much kindness on my visits there over the years?

•The Iran of the hardline Revolutionary Guards still hoping to punish the liberals who refused to go as cannon fodder in the war against Iraq?

•The Iran of the Supreme Leader who is riding a tiger and knows that releasing clerical control over media and politics signals the failure of the Islamic project — much as the Islamic Brotherhood faced in Egypt?

The Supreme Leader remains the key to ending the frozen dance of hatred and terrorism Iran has been locked into for more than 30 years.

Ben Barber has covered the Middle East for 30 years for the Baltimore Sun, London Observer, Toronto Globe and Mail and other publications.